The Girl with a Gun
by YesitsJanessa
Summary: *Winchester sister-fic* The Winchester brothers successfully track down their father...along with him, they find a teenage girl with a pistol, a mission, and the answer to an unanswerable question. (rated M for language, violence, and some sexual content)
1. Foreword

Foreshadowing

The most infuriating sound emerged from Adelaide's digital alarm clock. With an exhausted grunt, she thrust her arm out from underneath her covers and slammed it on top of her bedside table. The beeping subsided; the girl rolled over, letting her long, dark hair wrap around her face and cover her sleepy eyes. It wasn't a minute later when her blissful drifting was rudely interrupted.

"Adi," a small voice called from beside the bed, shaking Adelaide's shoulders and poking at her cheek.

"Someone's at the door for you."

Adelaide rolled over and squinted in the bright sunlight that seeped through her window. She watched the big blue eyes of her little sister; filled with confusion and urgency. Adelaide felt her heart begin to race, as if she had already had multiple cups of coffee that morning.

"Where's Mom?" Adi inquired.

The blonde-haired girl shrugged her tiny shoulders. "She wasn't here when I woke up. I was gonna check if she left a note but someone knocked at the door." Her tone changed instantly and the urgency in her eyes intensified as she took one of Adi's hands into both of hers.

"He wants to talk to you, _now._ "

Adelaide pulled on a pair of jeans she found on the floor, and stuffed into her back pocket the pistol she kept underneath her bed.

"Stay in your room, Liz. No matter what."

Elizabeth nodded and repeated after her big sister. "No matter what."

Adi tramped down the stairs as casually as possible. The walk from the stairs to the front door felt like an eternity, but the chain lock was latched which meant either the stranger had come inside and locked the door behind him, or Elizabeth was smart. Adi was certain of the latter, but she rubbed her thumb and forefinger over the handle of her pistol just to reassure herself that it was there and, as far as she knew, she still had the upper hand.

Adelaide twisted the doorknob. A shabbily dressed, unshaven middle-aged man stood on the porch. His olive green eyes darted from the door to Adi; he sealed his gaze on her and stood in silence for a long moment. He finally cleared his throat and chuckled awkwardly.

"I—I'm sorry, does Natalia Bennett still live here?"

"No," Adelaide replied hesitantly. "I've never heard of her. Sorry."

"Oh," the man didn't move a muscle. His gaze fell to the porch, as if searching the crack in the wood for the words he wanted to say.

"I was so sure she—"

"I can't help you."

He glanced back up at Adi. She noticed a glimmer in his eyes, and a deep sadness buried beneath the surface.

"Alright, thank you," He nodded politely. "Sorry to have bothered you."

Adelaide watched as the man stepped down from the porch and slid back into the driver's seat of a long-outdated black Chevy Impala. Adi remembered her father driving a car very similar to it; she watched as the man drove away, and took note of his license plate number.

"You can come out, Liz," Adi opened her sister's bedroom door and found her peering out the window.

"Elizabeth," Adi exclaimed, "what are you doing?"

"I wanted to see what his car looked like," Liz replied. She hopped down from her window seat and handed Adi a folded piece of paper.

"Got his license number." She grinned proudly.

Adi patted her sister on the shoulder. "Congrats, sis, you're a real good secret agent."

"Private investigator," Liz corrected her. "But you're a real good negotiator."

"You heard us talking?" Adi frowned.

Elizabeth nodded. "Why'd you tell him Mom didn't live here?" Liz held up a finger before Adi could reply, and nodded comprehensively. "Too dangerous. He'd want to come in and talk to her, and if he's trouble, we'd be toast."

"You got it." Adi replied with a smile. "Y'know, for a six year old, you're actually pretty dang smart."

Elizabeth winked. "Gotta be smart to get into criminal justice."


	2. Papa John

Natalia trudged up the steps to the front door. Totally and completely wasted, she could barely stand up straight. She leaned one shoulder against the doorframe, and wrapped the other arm around the man in the leather jacket who was groping her and kissing her neck. She kissed him intensely on the mouth, before vomiting all over the front porch, and his shoes.

"Shit," she exclaimed, stifling a giggle. "I'm so sorry. That's the least sexy thing I could've done."

The man looked at her with complete disgust, and her smile fell.

"Do you have any idea how much these shoes cost me?!" He bellowed angrily.

"I—I'm guessing…more than that haircut." Natalia burst out in hiccupping laughter. She leaned against the man's chest and reached up to wrap her arms around him, but was stopped short. He grabbed her arms and thrust her body against the door of her house.

"Bitch!" He shouted. His left hand grabbed both of her wrists, as his right hand flew up to meet her cheek. A bright red handprint was left behind as the man in the leather jacket tromped down the porch steps, nearly slipping in Natalia's mess. He grumbled to himself as he sped away into the dark, leaving behind a flustered, wasted, scandal-clad woman, locked out of her own house in the chilly November night.

Natalia slid down the doorframe, quiet sobs escaping past her lips. She heard a quiet clatter inside the house, as the door was unlatched. She felt a warm pair of hands pick her up gently by the hands; she barely heard the sound of her oldest daughter's voice coaxing her into the house.

"Holy—" Adelaide examined the bright red print on her mother's cheek. "Who did this to you?"

Natalia's ears were ringing. Her stomach and throat were burning. She could do nothing but sob and whimper, and fall unconscious to the floor.

"Good morning, sunshine."

Natalia slowly opened her eyes; or, the one eye she _could_ open. She barely remembered anything from the day before, but was reminded by the sharp pain that followed as she tried to rub the "sleep" out of her eyes.

"Good God in Heaven," Natalia winced in pain, then scoffed in disgust. "I should've known leather was a bad sign from the very start."

"That looks really bad, Mom."

Adi further examined her mother's wound, and sent Elizabeth on a search for some alcohol swabs while cooling the swollen area with a bag of frozen peas.

"Where did you go yesterday?" Adi inquired, careful to use a tone that implied curiosity and not frustration.

"To be honest," Natalia drew in a sharp breath as Adi pressed a little too hard for comfort. "I don't remember most of it."

 _Great. Drinks, clubbing, and more drinks._

"You were gone all day. Lizzie missed you."

Natalia sighed. "I'm sorry, Adelaide. I truly am."

Adi paused. She had forgiven her mother for many, many escapades such as these. For seventeen years, she had lived in a dank two-bedroom house with her alcoholic mother, no trace of a father, and after eleven years was suddenly expected to parent her baby sister. If there was any time she wanted to hold a grudge against her mom, that time was now.

"It's fine, Mom. We can handle it."

Natalia breathed in deeply and let out a contented sigh. "I love you girls so much."

Elizabeth tromped down the stairs, triumphantly waving a small packet of antiseptic swabs.

"Found 'em!"

Adi cleaned the cut on Natalia's hand-wound that was evidently made by a ring, or by extremely bony knuckles. Natalia occasionally cried out in pain, but quieted down as she noticed Liz's concerned expression.

"So," Natalia began, "what did _you_ girls do yesterday?"

"We played dress-up, ate the last frozen pizza, and watched Lizzie McGuire." Elizabeth answered quickly. It hadn't taken her long to memorize the ideal response; Natalia would not approve of her six year old playing poker and watching The Walking Dead, so each time she came home after a night of drinks, the girls improvised. Elizabeth was an exceptional liar; Natalia never once questioned her.

As Elizabeth left to "work on her math" (read Marvel comics), Adi seized the opportune moment to interrogate her mother a bit more, on another subject.

"Mom?"

Natalia grunted in response.

"A man showed up around nine yesterday morning," Adi explained. "He was asking for you."

"Uh-huh? And what'd you tell him?"

"I told him you didn't live here."

"Good girl." Natalia paused, and Adi inquired further.

"Did you ever know a man who drove a black Chevy Impala from, like, the '70s?"

Natalia's breath stopped. She clenched her fists and practically sprang up from the sofa.

"How in the hell did he find me?" Natalia was practically panicked. She stumbled around as if she had forgotten how to walk, and darted across the hall.

"Mom, what's going on?" Adelaide called behind her.

"Shut up and come here!" Natalia whispered harshly. Adi obeyed without questioning.

Natalia threw open her laptop and typed furiously. She clicked a few times, then spun the laptop around to face Adi.

"Is this him?" Natalia demanded, pointing to an image that closely resembled the man who showed up at the doorstep the morning prior.

Adi nodded hesitantly. "That's him, but why—"

Natalia swore under her breath and slammed the laptop shut, nearly shattering the screen. She took a few deep breaths, and leaned her back against the kitchen chair.

"Mom?" Adi prompted. "What's wrong?"

Natalia drew in a deep breath, and exhaled shakily. She met Adi's eyes, as tears welled up and fell from her cheeks.

Natalia took her daughter by the hands and whimpered, "Adelaide, you and Elizabeth are the only things that truly matter in my life. I love you both far more than the sun and the moon and the stars all combined, and I would never ever do anything to hurt either of you. You know that, don't you?"

Adi wanted desperately to protest – to point out all the times she had left Adi and her sister alone past midnight before Adi was even a teenager – but she nodded in agreement.

Natalia released a sob before continuing. "A long time ago, I was into some strange things; things you can't fully understand. I hooked up with a guy named John Winchester…a co-worker, let's say. We had some drinks and some laughs, and to spare you the details, he left me with no job, no reputation, no money, and…a baby."

Adelaide's heart skipped a beat. Her throat clenched, her head spun, and her knees went weak.

"Oh my god."

"I'm sorry. I never wanted you to know who he was, or what he looked like, or—"

"That man—he's my—he's my father and I—I…I turned him away?" Adi's eyes flooded with tears that wouldn't fall.

"Adelaide, I'm sorry. He was a douchebag and I never—"

"I carry that douchebag's DNA!" Adelaide screamed, pulling her hands from Natalia's. "You kept this from me for seventeen years! All this time, I had a dad who cared about me, who wanted to see me, who was looking for me - and all you could think of was your ruined reputation?!"  
"No, Adi, listen to me, please!" Natalia begged. "I wanted to keep you _safe_! Of course I wanted you to have a father, just not _him!"_

"I'm old enough, Mom," Adi sobbed, "You could have at least told me he was alive!"

"I—I thought he was killed on a hunting trip," Natalia explained tearfully. "I had no idea, I swear!"

"Well, you know what?" Adi stormed down the hallway towards the front door. "I'm going out there to find him, and if you don't want to talk to him, I will!"

"Adelaide, no!" Natalia screamed after Adi, but she was already out the door.

Natalia shot up from the table and burst out the doorway. She shouted after Adi, "You're making a mistake, Adelaide, _please_ come back!"

Adi didn't stall for a moment. She backed her mom's beat-up car out of the drive faster than ever. Without it, Natalia wouldn't be going to any bars that night, which meant Lizzie would be safe, somewhat.

Tears blocked her vision, but Adi sped down the road to the police station as quickly as she could, with the image of her father imprinted in her memory, and his name ringing in her ears. Her phone rang; she silenced it without checking the caller, and shut it in the glovebox. She checked her pockets for the slip of paper Liz had given her. With all the information she carried, someone at the station had to be of some help to her.

Adi veered sharply around a corner into the nearest parking spot, slammed on the brakes, and jammed the car into park. She marched into the building and nearly face-planted the back of a very tall man. The police officer at the front desk was having a heated argument with a shorter man, as the taller man stepped in between both of them, pulling the shorter man away.

"Look, we _know_ he was here," The shorter man bellowed. "He drives a '67 Impala; it kinda sticks out!"

"If he _was_ here, it was for all of five minutes." The officer replied. "Of course we patrol the area routinely, but we don't exactly take note of who's _not_ causing any trouble!"

"I'm sorry, officer," the taller man calmly explained, "This has all been a huge – _dramatic –_ misunderstanding." He shot daggers at the shorter man, who wriggled out of his grasp and huffed angrily.

"Unless there's a real emergency, and we can all communicate like civilized gentlemen," the officer replied exasperatedly, "I don't want to see either of you back here again."

"Got it. Thank you for your time," The taller man apologized.

The two men walked past Adi, who stood dumbfounded in her tracks. The officer brushed himself off and grumbled to himself for a minute before finally noticing the girl.

"Can I help you, sweetheart?"

Adi shook herself back into reality, turned on her heels, and raced out the door, shouting after the two men.

"Hey! Wait!"

She looked both ways, saw no one, then heard an engine rumble to life. She dashed around the corner as the vehicle pulled out of the lot and began to drive away down the road. Adi didn't stop to think; she took off at a sprint and prayed God would give her superhuman speed for just a few seconds so she could catch up to the rusty, dinged pickup. Allegedly, God heard her. It took three seconds for her to catch up to the truck, and less than two seconds for her to jump in front of it.

The shorter man was driving, and thankfully all of his senses – particularly his reflexes - were heightened. He slammed on the brakes, and once both men had recovered from the intense shaking-up they had just endured, they stared wordlessly at Adi.

"What the _hell_?!" The shorter man screamed when he found his voice.

The taller one broke his stare at Adi, and moved his gaze toward the shorter one who angrily threw his door open and jumped down from the driver's seat.

"Are you trying to commit suicide or something?" The shorter one bellowed. "Because I can give you at _least_ twenty other ways that are a hell of a lot better than jumping in front of a truck!"

"No, I'm not. I—" Adi swallowed the lump in her throat and explained, "I think we're looking for the same person."

The taller man stepped out of the vehicle and joined the shorter one, who had resumed his confused staring.

"John Winchester?" The taller one inquired.

"Yeah." Adelaide replied. "Apparently, he's my dad."


	3. Ghost Town

"Wait…John Winchester had a daughter?"

The taller one furrowed his eyebrows and exchanged an entirely mental conversation with the shorter one.

"Apparently so, yeah," Adelaide replied. "Unless, of course, my mom's a complete nutjob and can't remember whose sperm I was made out of."

"Look, kid, we can't help you." The shorter one replied. "As you can see, we ain't having much luck finding this guy."

"But maybe I will." Adelaide pulled the slip of paper from her back pocket and showed it to the men.

"I have his plate number; that should get us somewhere."

The shorter one stared at his taller counterpart, who raised his eyebrows in questioning.

"Will you excuse us?" The shorter one asked; less of a question and more of a demand. The two stepped back into their battered down truck, and Adelaide stepped out of the way. She could hear their conversation through the cracked windows.

"We could use her help."

"No, Sammy, we could use _Dad's_ help. She'll just get in the way."

"I—I know, but if she is…ya know…then we're keeping her from her birthright. She should be allowed to at least see him."

"I don't care what the law says about birth and rights or whatever the hell you're talking about. We're tracking down Dad and—"

" _And_ maybe she can help us."

The taller one ("Sammy"?) raised his eyebrows again. The shorter one huffed in frustration before stepping back out of the vehicle.

"Alright, kid, where do you live?" He inquired.

"Maple Drive," Adi replied, "Third house on the left."

The shorter one nodded. "We're talking to your parents before we take you anywhere."

Adi protested, "What? No! You don't understand—"

"Look, we might be big scary guys, but we're not savages. Or kidnappers."

"I wouldn't care if you were either of those." Adi argued. "I'm not going back there!"

"Then you're not coming with us." The shorter one replied firmly. Adi hesitated for a long while before nodding in agreement and starting up her mom's car. She led the men to her house and unlocked the front door, fingering the gun she kept concealed in her jeans.

"Stay here," she instructed the men, stepping into the house and locking the chain behind her.

"Mom?" She called.

No reply.

Complete silence.

"Liz?" She shouted louder.

Suddenly, an enormous _boom_ came from the outside. Adi heard both men shout, and the shorter one erupt in a string of profanity.

"Uh, kid," the taller one called through the door, "you need to get out of there, now!"

Adi backed up slowly. The windows shattered and a bright white light seeped through the holes that were left in the walls. She turned on her heels, unlatched the door, and ran out to find that an explosion had taken place in the center of town. A huge cloud of smoke was blanketing the city, and an unearthly bright light shattered street lights, windows, and whatever else crossed its path. Terrified neighbors came rushing out of their houses screaming and crying; some still in their sleepwear, others wrapped in towels. They all stared at the commotion in the distance before jumping into their cars and zooming as far away as they could.

"Get in the truck." The shorter one demanded. He turned to Adi. "You too, come on!"

Adelaide didn't need further convincing. She jumped in the back of the truck and watched out the windows as the result of panic and terror played out. She recognized all of the people who sped away from the scene, but knew nothing about any of them.

 _Holy shit. We're going to die._

"Are you okay?" The taller one turned back to face Adi.

Adi panted; she had forgotten to breathe until just then. "Yeah," she replied. "I'm fine."

"Yeah?" the shorter one inquired, "and where are your parents? Did you just ditch 'em or what?"

"My mom was home this morning," Adi replied. "My dad…my sister's dad was killed a long time ago. He had a heart attack."

"Was he in his eighties or something?"

"No, there was some kind of epidemic. Widespread terror or something." Adi replied. "He caught whatever it was while he was on a work trip; the police came to our front door and asked my mom to ID him."

"I'm sorry," the taller one said.

Adi shrugged. "I didn't care about him. My sister barely knew him. I mean my mom was pretty torn up over it, but there was nothing she could do to bring him back, so she tried replacing him with other guys."

Another explosion was heard not far behind them. Adi glanced out the back window to witness a cloud of smoke, splattering of blood on the concrete, and traces of fire. She turned back to the front. Her throat clenched and her eyes bulged from her head.

"Shit," she gasped. "The bar—it was—oh god. Oh my god!"

The taller one stared at the shorter one. Neither knew what to say to the disconcerted girl in the backseat. They drove in silence for hours, until the sun went down and the scenery changed entirely.

"Hey, kid," the shorter one spoke up, "I can't keep calling you 'kid'…unless that's your name."

"It's Adelaide," Adi replied monotonously.

The shorter one cleared his throat. "Okay, Adelaide, it's uh, nice to meet you. I'm Dean, and this is Sam." He nodded to the taller one, who forced a smile.

Under her breath, Adi whispered, "I should never have left."

"Look," Sam tried desperately to make a connection with the poor girl. "I'm sure your mom and your sister are fine."

"They probably hightailed it out of there as soon as they noticed you were gone." Dean agreed.

Adi shook her head remorsefully. "No, they knew I was gone before I left."

"…sorry?"

"My mom and I had an argument," Adi explained. "John Winchester showed up at my front door yesterday morning asking for my mom. I told him she didn't live there, and I sent him away. Then Mom told me who he was and what history they had…so I went looking for him."

"Well now we know why he came to Indiana." Dean muttered to Sam.

"Why are _you_ looking for him?" Adi remarked. "Do you work with him or something?"

"Or something," Sam replied. "He's our dad too."

"His profession is kinda…unique." Dean replied, "He hunts supernatural entities, and apparently chicks too."

"Wait, John Winchester is your father?" Adi stared inquisitively at the two men in front of her. "And he hunts…ghosts?"

"Yes," Sam replied, "and yes, along with other things."

"Other things like…"

Sam explained, "Reapers, werewolves, zombies, vampires, _and_ ghosts."

"Those are just a few," Dean added. "You forgot demons and angels."

"But all those things," Adi protested, "aren't real."

"That's what most people think." Dean replied, "Until you hear a _bump_ in the night and it's not your cat."

"So…that explosion back there," Adi inquired. "Was that caused by a supernatural entity?"

"Possibly," Sam replied. "We think that's why our dad was there. He sometimes scopes out the area when he knows something might happen."

"How would he be able to tell? Is he a warlock or something?"

"Not really," Sam replied, "He just gets these…feelings, and he knows."

"That's probably why he showed up at your house, too," Dean added. "He gets these 'feelings.'"

Adi felt a twinge of hope. "Maybe he got to my mom in time to warn her."

"It's possible," Dean agreed. "You pretty much live in a ghost town; pardon the expression."

"So if we find John, we get some answers." Adi concluded.

"Great job, Sherlock, you got it." Dean remarked sarcastically.

"Wait, Dean," Sam asked, "Where exactly are we going?"

"Indy," Dean replied. "Figures there'd be some more resourceful officers there who can track the Impala."

"And find Dad." Sam concluded.

"Well, yeah, _and_ the car." Dean nodded.


	4. Be There Soon

Adelaide and Sam had long since fallen asleep when Dean suddenly pulled the truck to a stop. Adi awoke and squinted out the front window.

Blearily, she inquired, "Where are we?"

"Motel for the night," Dean replied.

"But we have to find John." Adi pressed.

"Sorry, kid, but if we want to make it anywhere in one piece, the driver's got to get some shuteye."

Once Dean had shaken Sam awake and filled him in, the three entered the motel, booked a room, and trudged up the stairs to the third floor (the receptionist informed them that it was the third time in the past week the elevator had broken down). The only light in the room was a wobbly bedside lamp and an antenna television with only three channels. There were two beds, covered by a thin cotton sheet and yellowed pillowcases.

"I paid $45 for _this_?" Dean scoffed.

"I'll take the floor." All three stated in unison.

The next morning, Adelaide was the first one awake. She had slept on the floor of the closet with her jacket rolled up as a pillow, underneath which she kept her pistol, just in case one of the Winchester brothers turned out to be less than trustworthy. She yawned quietly as she opened the closet doors. The room was just as dark as it had been when she had fallen asleep; she stepped over Dean's sleeping body and attempted to open the window shades, only to find that they had been sealed shut and screwed to the bottom of the windowsill.

"Could this get any sketchier?" She whispered.

Apparently, she had spoken a little too loudly. She felt Dean's hand suddenly wrap around her ankle. She let out a scream and kicked him in the nose with the boot on her free foot.

"Agh!" Dean exclaimed, recoiling and pinching his nose with both hands. "Son of a…"

Adi's scream had awoken Sam, who jumped to his feet and cast a confused glance in Adi's direction.

"What's going on?" Sam questioned apprehensively.

"He grabbed my leg, and I—I—I just…I reacted." Adi stammered.

Dean squeezed his eyes shut. In a pained tone he uttered, "Great reflexes, kid."

Sam shrugged toward Adi. "It happens sometimes," he explained, "He's attacked me in his sleep before, but it typically doesn't mean anything."

Adi's eyes widened. "'Typically'?"

Dean stumbled to his feet, blinking rapidly to keep his watering eyes from running.

"Sorry 'bout that," he apologized. "It…does happen sometimes."

A long, awkward silence filled the air.

"Hey," Sam spoke up, "let's get out of here. I'll drive." He nodded to Dean, who muttered a thanks.

Once they were back on the road and the blood from Dean's nose had finally run its course, he took initiative from the passenger seat.

"We've gotta find a station where they can track the plate number."

"Why don't you just call him?" Adi suggested.

Dean let out an exasperated sigh. "That would work out nicely if he would answer our calls, but unfortunately—"

Sam's phone rang. He nearly ran the truck off the road in a hasty effort to pull his phone from the back pocket of his jeans. He pulled over to the side of the road and read the caller ID on the screen.

"It's Dad."

"Hurry up and answer it!" Dean demanded. Sam didn't take much convincing.

Dean and Adelaide watched intently as Sam answered the phone. One end of the conversation was barely audible, but Dean picked out a word or two here and there. John made a statement – gave an order, really – to which Sam reacted rather negatively.

"No, Dad, we can't do that."

Dean leaned in closer, in an attempt to hear all that he could on John's end of the line.

"We have someone with us," Sam admitted in a hushed tone. "We can't exactly embark on the most dangerous hunt of our lives at the moment."

Dean's interest spiked. "What's he saying?"

Sam shushed Dean. Adi leaned in closer to the driver's seat so she could hear as well. She picked out John's voice on the other line; every word was clear as day.

"I don't have time to argue, Sammy."

"Neither do I!" Sam argued.

"Why'd you take on more baggage? You know what happens when you bring others along on hunts."

"We're not _on_ a hunt, Dad," Sam protested, "we were looking for you."

"Well, you can stop looking. I'm not coming back."

Dean snatched the phone from Sam and bellowed into the mouthpiece, "Listen, Dad, we didn't spend two months on the road looking for you _and_ the car for _nothing._ Either you're coming to us, or we're coming to you."

There was no reply.

"Look, you've got a hell of a lot of explaining to do, and I'm not about to take this 'sorry you're on your own' crap from you again!"

Again, there was a long moment of silence. When John spoke again, his voice was hushed to barely more than a whisper.

"Who do you have with you?"

Dean and Adi exchanged looks. "Some girl who says she's your daughter," Dean replied. Adi's eyebrows furrowed, but she let Dean's comment go without a dispute.

Sam, Dean, and Adi were left in complete silence for what seemed like an eternity. John finally spoke up once again, his voice breaking.

"Stay where you are and don't hang up. I put a tracking system into your phone, Sammy. I'll be there soon."

Dean slumped back in the passenger seat. Sam rested his arms on the steering wheel and laid his forehead down. Adi sad upright in the backseat, staring out the windows, her eyes darting from one place to another. They had all been waiting for hours. The sun had already begun to set, and the longer they left the truck running, the less hope they had of getting off the backroads and back into the city.

"Sammy," Dean mumbled, "Has it crossed your mind that Dad might be playing a trick on us?"

Sam drew in a deep breath and miserably replied, "I was hoping it was just me."

"What do you think, kid?" Dean sarcastically asked Adi. "You're the real sleuth here. Got any new ideas?"

Adi shook her head slowly. She tried to hide any signs of "girlish" emotion, but the explosions, her empty house, and the last words she had said to her mother flooded her memory. Tears filled her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

"Shit," Dean muttered under his breath. Sam glanced up at Adi through the rearview mirror, and gave Dean a look that said "you've done it now, so you've got to fix it."

"Adi, I'm sorry." Dean admitted, "We shouldn't have dragged you through all this. We don't know you; you don't know us…this is probably considered a federal crime." Dean gave Sam a concerned look, but Sam offered no further suggestion.

"In all honesty," Dean continued, "I'm just as scared as you are."

"Bullshit." Adi sobbed.

"C'mon, I'm pretty thick skinned, yeah, but…" Dean paused, searching for the right words to say. "I've seen a lot of crap that I can never un-see. That's why the whole sleep reflex thing happens. You go through the kind of stuff my brother and I have been through, and you don't just get over that. It stays with 'ya for a good long while. And it's scary as hell."

Adi sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Dean raised his eyebrows at Sam, who nodded in admiration.

"I'm sorry," Adi whimpered. "I just want answers…if John really is my father, I need to know what he can tell me about my mom, and if he does what you say he does – hunting ghosts and whatever else – I want to know what caused those explosions."

"We're looking for answers too, kid." Dean replied. "And some of 'em John Winchester ain't gonna be able to answer."

Sam shook Dean's shoulder and pointed out the front window.

"The Impala,"

Dean practically jumped out of the truck into the cold. He squinted and shielded his eyes from the sun; in the distance, he could clearly make out his "Baby," the car he cared so affectionately for. He waved to Sam, who sat upright and waved back, but reached in the glove box and pulled out a revolver, just in case there was a plot twist waiting to happen.

The Impala drew nearer, and Dean spotted the silhouette of his father in the driver's seat. Suddenly, an intense wave of emotions came over him: anger, frustration, relief, excitement, love. He wasn't a sentimental, lovey-dovey guy, but a big part of him was admittedly glad to see that his father was the one driving his car, and that he was alive.

Sam stepped out with Adelaide trailing along behind him. They congregated around the Impala; Adi watched in silence as the Winchester brothers embraced their father, who looked at them with relief but also with a hint of sadness.

"I understand you're looking for some answers," John said.

He turned to Adi, who froze in a sudden rush of fear.

"I think I can help you find them."


	5. Half and Half

All four piled into the Impala. Dean took the driver's seat, inspecting the steering wheel, the radio, and the leather seats for any dings and dents John might have left. Sam and Adi sat in the back, and John in the passenger seat next to Dean.

"There's a lot about me you don't know, boys," John began. "After your mom died, I swore I wouldn't ever love again, but….that changed."

"Go on." Dean probed.

John sighed deeply. "I was on a hunt. Dean, you couldn't have been more than ten years old. I left you and Sam in a motel room in Columbus, and went on to Indiana. There was some trouble with demons, and I needed help." John smiled regretfully. "I always told you your old man worked alone, but this time, I couldn't do it."

Sam and Dean exchanged looks as John cleared his throat. "I met a hunter named Natalia, who agreed to join me if I would make a deal with her."

"Oh my god," Adi breathed. "My mom was a hunter?"

John turned to face Adi. His eyes were filled with compassion. "She was more than a hunter. She was a natural born fighter…a real pistol. She could take down anything with one shot, one kick, one slice; whatever it took, she gave it once, and that was it."

"What was the deal?" Sam inquired.

"She wanted a family." John replied, "She wanted to settle down with someone. We were both getting older; we were, essentially, the 'perfect match' for one another. So I gave her a ring and she gave me her assistance."

"You remarried?" Dean questioned, fury rising in his voice.

"No, I—" John stammered. "I lied to her. I told her I would stop after this last hunt. I agreed to marry her when we had sent the last of the demons back to hell, but I knew from the start I wouldn't be able to hold up my end of the bargain."

"You used her." Adi exclaimed. "You didn't love her, you just wanted her to—"

"I did love her," John assured her. "But I couldn't stay with her. Not without finding and killing the thing that murdered my wife."

"So, what?" Dean demanded. "You slept with her and went on your merry way back to Ohio?"

John shook his head solemnly. "Worse. I stayed with her for a week; we had laughs, shared our life stories, started planning the wedding… _then_ I left. I tried to find her again years later, to make things right, but when I heard she was dead-"

"She wasn't dead, you bastard." Adi fumed. " _You_ were dead to her." Hot, angry tears fell from Adi's eyes. "She kept me from looking for you all these years because she knew exactly what kind of a coward and a thief you were!"

John protested, "It was never my intention to hurt her, or you."

"Well your intentions were not in line with logic," Adi bawled, "You can't exactly have sex with someone, tell them you'll be with them forever, and leave them alone with a kid, expecting them to be _happy_!"

"I made a mistake, and I am truly sorry."

Adi threw open the door of the Impala. "I will _never_ forgive you for what you've done. My mother is gone because of you. She always has been."

Adi began tromping down the road. She could hear John and his sons having a heated argument, but she refused to look back. She reached for the pistol in her back pocket; fury surging through every vein in her body. She could end John Winchester once and for all…but she couldn't. Cold blooded murder was not – and would never be – her forte. She continued on into the night, her heart racing, her head spinning, and her blood boiling.

Sam called out to her from the Impala, but his voice was distant. Adi suddenly felt as if she was underwater. She couldn't tell which way was up or down; her knees buckled, and she felt herself falling to the cold gravel, unable to catch herself. She heard muffled sounds of feet running towards her, but her eyes couldn't focus on faces. She felt hands shaking her, but she couldn't respond. Everything went totally black as she felt someone picking her up off the ground.

Adi stirred. Her head throbbed and the left side of her body felt numb with pain. She moaned and tried to open her eyes, but one was swollen shut and the other was covered in a layer of dirt and gunk.

"Adi?" Sam spoke gently.

"You with us?" Dean echoed.

"I think so," Adi rasped.

"You took a pretty hard fall." Dean explained. "We're taking you to a hospital."

"They'll…want to call…my mom," Adi panicked. "You can't..."

"It's alright." Sam reassured her. "We're your brothers; they won't call anyone."

Adi remembered the conversation she had before. She recalled every word John said, and her heart began to race again.

"Calm down," Dean coaxed her. "You don't have to worry about John, we left him way back behind us."

"But…you still needed more answers," Adi questioned. "Why'd you just let him go?"

"We got the answer we were looking for." Dean replied, a hint of sorrow in his voice.

"God, I'm sorry," Adi lamented. "I should never have asked you to bring me into this." She winced as she tried to sit up. "You…wouldn't have any of this trouble if it wasn't for me."

"True," Dean nodded. Sam shot him a disconcerted look. "But," Dean continued, "we never would've known you existed, and that's kind of important."

"Why?" Adi inquired, "You've gone seventeen years not knowing I existed, and you've been just fine."

"You don't know squat." Dean protested. "We believed all the lies our dad told us, and that's pretty shitty."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. "You brought the truth to light; no one else could do that."

"After you left, we uh…had a talk with him," Dean explained. "Turns out, he had a lot of lies hiding underneath that jacket. Nothin' 'fine' about that."

The city lights illuminated the inside of the Impala. Adi wiped her good eye with her good hand, and saw Sam sitting in the backseat next to her with her legs propped up on top of his. Dean was driving, and occasionally she could see the redness of a welt beside his eye.

"Did he hurt you?" Adi inquired.

Dean looked at her and shook his head. "Nah, it's just a bruise. Don't worry about me, kid."

As they pulled into the hospital parking lot, Sam helped Adi into an upright position. She breathed in sharply as the strength in her body left her and she limped over, her bad side falling against Sam.

"Dean, if she can't sit up, she can't walk in there." Sam stated.

Dean opened the door and motioned for Sam to step out of the car. He reached in and carefully pulled Adi out, carrying her bridal-style into the hospital building.

Whenever Adi had a random bout of strength, she would lift her head only to have it fall back against Dean's shoulder.

"Hey," Dean whispered, "calm down, kiddo. Save your strength."

Sam spoke with the receptionist, who rushed to get them a room and a doctor. Adi slipped in and out of sleep every few minutes. Suddenly, she woke up in a hospital gown, lying in a hospital bed with an IV attached to her right arm.

Dean had fallen asleep in the chair beside her bed, and Sam was sitting on the floor beside him, half awake. He glanced up and made eye contact with Adi, who was able to open the other one.

"Hey," Sam shook Dean awake. "How are you feeling?" He asked her.

"Better," Adi replied with confusion. "How long was I out for?"

"About six hours," Sam replied. "The nurses had to remove a lot of gravel from the left side of your body."

Adi peered over at her left side. Her arm was bandaged; whatever wasn't covered in gauze was black and blue.

"How far did I fall?" She wondered.

"Uh, you fell off the truck, Adi." Sam said. "That's over six feet."

The heart monitor's beeping increased as Adi's heart began to race.

"I didn't…climb on the truck," Adi protested. "I was just walking…and I blacked out."

"We saw you fall," Dean replied. "You were definitely on top of the truck."

"How did I get there?" Adi inquired.

"Hey," Sam stared at Adi's heart monitor with concern. "Don't worry about it, you're okay now."

Adi nodded and took deep breaths to slow her heart rate back down. "I'm really sorry about all of this."

"You've said that already." Dean moaned.

"I mean it," Adi stressed. "You barely know me; you shouldn't have to take care of me all of a sudden."

"Should've thought about that before you jumped in front of my truck, kid."

Sam empathized, "We're all a little bit confused right now, but you're not the problem. I promise. I mean, we see ghouls and vampires and demons every day, but not…secret family members."

Adi's lips curled into a pained little smile. "Glad to know I could bring somewhat of an alteration into your boring everyday life."

"'Boring?'" Dean protested. "Like hell!"

"I was kidding." Adi rolled her eyes. "Lighten up, Dean."

Dean was half pissed and half impressed. Neither he, nor Sam, nor Adelaide knew exactly how to react to finding out they were half-siblings; so far, recent events had been nothing short of interesting.

The nurse returned to check on Adi and change the dressing on her wounds. Sam and Dean left the room as the nurse changed the bandage on Adi's left hip and thigh. Once she had finished her job, she called them back into the room and left with an armful of dirty bandages, promising to send the doctor in as soon as possible to check on Adi so that she could go home.

"Where to from here?" Adi inquired.

"No idea." Dean replied, "What I do know is, as soon as Doc clears you, we have _got_ to get some grub."


	6. Angel Whisperer

Adelaide and her newfound brothers jogged out of the hospital. Dean drove them to a nearby mom & pop diner called Kristie's, on a much emptier corner of town. In the diner there sat two elderly men, and a young couple with their son who couldn't be more than two years old. The waitress walked out from the kitchen holding a little pad of paper and a pen in her hands.

"Hi there," She said, her voice dusted with a fake sweetness that all waitresses are told to use. "What can I get'cha to drink?"

"I'll take a beer," Dean replied.

"Make that two." Sam added.

Adi's eyes darted from the waitress to Sam and Dean, and back again. "I'm fine with water, thanks." She answered.

The waitress nodded and waltzed back to the kitchen.

"So…" Sam spoke, leaning his elbows on the table and facing Adi. "Are you up for answering some questions?"

Adi nodded slowly. "I think you deserve some answers at this point."

"Have you ever seen anything out of the ordinary?" Sam inquired, "I mean, before the explosions two days ago."

"Creatures or happenings?"

"Either one, or…both."

Adi nodded. "My sister. She's never been to public school or anything like that, but she acts as if she recognizes strangers. I mean, she's half my age and she has twice my intelligence, but unless she's living an alternate life, I don't see how it's possible for her to know every Joe there is."

Dean's and Sam's interest peaked. Dean jumped in, "You say she just…knows everyone, somehow?"

Adi nodded. "We don't talk about it much because it makes her uncomfortable, but sometimes she lets it slip."

"Lets what slip?"

"That she knows people." Adi could see that the Winchester brothers were rather confused, so she elaborated.

"A few years ago, Mom tried putting her in a co-op; kind of like a club for home-schooled kids. She named off all the kids in her group before she got out of the car."

Sam furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He and Dean exchanged looks as they both considered all the possibilities. The waitress returned with their drinks; Adi noticed her doing a double take at the unhealed remnants of Adi's injuries, as well as the bruise next to Dean's eye, before taking all of their orders and waltzing back toward the kitchen.

"What'cha thinkin', Sammy?" Dean asked.

Sam shrugged in reply. "She could have connections."

"With who? Santa Claus? Jesus?"

Sam hesitated. "Or…angels."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Sam, we've been through this."

"I know you don't believe, Dean, but just think about it for a second."

"I did. A second was long enough for me to rule out that option."

"Whoa, hey, wait up," Adi interrupted. "You think my sister has been talking to angels?"

"Or they could be talking to her." Sam suggested.

Adi stared long and hard at Sam, then glanced over at Dean and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"Is that possible?"

"'Course not," Dean shook his head.

"It may be." Sam disagreed. "Some people don't believe in angels, but their existence – or lack thereof - isn't subjective to popular opinion."

"Can it, Samuel." Dean warned.

Sam shot daggers with his eyes at his brother.

"So," Adi began, "let's say angels _are_ real. If my sister has been talking to them, what does that mean? I mean, does that make her an angel-whisperer or something?"

Sam replied, "Figuratively speaking, angels are holy beings who work for God, like soldiers or messengers. If God wants them to deliver a message to someone, they would. I mean, anything He tells them to do, they could do."

"But why would He tell them to communicate with my sister?"

"Who knows?" Dean jumped in. "'The Lord works in mysterious ways.'"

"Excuse me," The young woman who sat across the room approached the Winchesters' table. "Could I borrow your salt?"

Dean nodded and handed her the little plastic salt container that sat in the center of their table. The woman thanked him and returned to her table with her husband and son. Adi tuned out Sam and Dean's voices as they continued exchanging contradictions about angels, and instead watched the woman as she sprinkled a bit of salt on her husband's French fries.

His face turned deep red and he jumped up from his seat, knocking over the table along with the highchair his infant son sat in.

"You keep that away from me!" He bellowed.

The woman jumped back in terror, and rushed to her son, shielding him from her enraged husband. The man bolted out the door as one of the waitresses frantically dialed 911. Dean and Sam rose from their seats and ran over toward the woman's side.

"Are you alright?" Sam asked her. She was trembling as she picked her child up from the floor and cradled him in her arms.

"We'll be fine." She replied, her eyes anxiously darting from one place to another. She took a long look in Adi's direction before returning her gaze toward Sam and Dean.

The woman's tone suddenly changed from scared to stern. "I can handle him." She insisted.

The woman walked out of the restaurant calmly, tossing a twenty on the floor next to the overturned table she was sitting at a moment before. Sam worked at picking up the table and all that had been sitting on top of it while Dean returned to Adi's side. She was speechless with horror at what she had just witnessed.

"Wh—what the _hell_ was that?" She stammered.

"I would say 'your average salt-o-phobic with anger issues'," Dean replied, "but you and I both know that's not entirely true."

Their waitress returned to the table with a tray balanced on her hand. She had seen it all, but she looked more intrigued than terrified. Dean turned to her and motioned to the plates of food on her tray.

"We're, uh, gonna need some to-go boxes."

Dean drove the Impala down a dusty backroad, strategically steering with one hand and grabbing fries with the other. Sam sat in the backseat next to Adi, doing his best to answer her endless questions.

"Why was he so pissed about the salt?"

"Well, he could be deathly allergic, or…he could be a demon."

"Oh great. Just peachy."

Dean interrupted, a mouthful of fries muffling his speech. "We're not 'dealing with' anything. That guy's not our problem."

"But," Adi objected, "don't you hunt those things? What if he hurts that woman, or her kid?"

Sam responded calmly. "Adi, she wasn't a woman."

"So, what, she was a demon or something too?"

"More like a leviathan."

"Oh my god," Adi muttered. "Is this an everyday occurrence for you two?"

"Pretty much," Dean nodded.

"Dammit," Adi cursed. "I set out to find my father, and I run into a freaking leviathan-demon duo."

"Hey!" Dean griped, "We're not demons, you butthole."

"Not you, doofus. The couple at the diner."

"You know," Dean griped, "you don't have to come with us."

"Whoa," Sam pleaded. "Calm down, dude, she didn't mean anything."

"No," Dean retorted. "You found John, you got your answers, and frankly, you've shit on us enough. It's been one day, and I'm already sick and tired of your attitude. You act like you know everything there is to know about life and death, but you have _no_ idea how clueless you really are."

" _Dean—_ "

Adi interjected. "Look, I know I'm a pain in the ass. I get it. But I _don't_ have all my answers. My mom and my sister go missing as some freak explosions are going on around my house. You hunt demons and ghosts – things I didn't even know existed. Yes, I'm clueless about life and death, and that's exactly why I'm here. I need your help. I need to find my family, then I'll be back out of your life as if I was never here."

Dean groaned and wiped his face with his hands. He watched Sam in the rearview mirror, who shook his head frustratingly.

"Alright," Dean started, "we have to come up with a game plan. We find Dad, your mom, those demons from the diner, or whoever the hell can answer your questions, then we hightail it out of here and take you back home where you belong."

"Great," Adi approved, "just tell me one thing: how exactly do you plan on finding John again after you left him in the dust?"

"We call him." Dean replied. "And we give him some motivation."


	7. Once Bitten, Twice Dead

"I've called seven times, Dean," Sam objected. "If he was going to answer his phone he would have by the fifth time at least."

Sam rode in the passenger seat, holding a map and navigating for his brother. Dean took up the role of Dad-caller, steering with one hand and dialing John's number over and over with the other. Adi sat quietly in the backseat, considering all of her options. She could easily open a door and jump out; but she had already pulled a stupid stunt the night before, so she decided against that route. She could shoot them both…but she knew she couldn't really commit cold hard murder. She had suggested that to herself back when John was in the picture, and if she couldn't kill her father she knew she couldn't kill her brothers.

"Give it up, man." Sam mumbled. "We've been at this for hours. And we're just getting more and more lost."

"We're not lost, Sammy," Dean protested. "And we're not giving up. We need answers, and we need 'em ASAP."

Adi screeched as a figure emerged from the cornfield on the left hand side of the road. Dean slammed on the breaks, barely missing whoever – or whatever – had jumped out in front of the Impala. All three jumped out of the car, Dean and Sam with their handguns, and Adi with her heart in her stomach.

Dean knelt next to the woman who laid motionless on the asphalt. "She's dead," Dean breathed.

Adi peeked over Dean's shoulder as Sam shone a flashlight on the woman's face. Adi's throat clenched; as soon as she found air, she sucked it in hard.

"You okay?" Sam concerned.

Adi couldn't form words. She shook her head profusely, keeping her eyes locked on the lifeless woman.

Dean turned around and faced Adi. "Hey, kid," He insisted urgently, "you've gotta breathe. C'mon, in and out."

Adi shook her head harder and let out a breath that turned into a cough. She breathed in and out harshly, unable to find rhythm in an "in and out" pattern.

"Talk to me," Dean insisted. "Are you hurt?"

Adi shook her head and drew in a sharp breath.

"I—I know th—tha—t woman," she gasped.

"Who is she?" Dean inquired.

Adi's gaze locked on the woman's glassy eyes; her petite nose, obviously broken; her lips, dry and cracked; the lines around her mouth, the wrinkles next to her eyes, the creases on her forehead…she resented aging, and did all she could to hide it, but Adi recognized her even without all of the makeup she plastered on daily.

"That's my mom," Adi whispered.

Dean and Sam exchanged a look as Adi knelt down next to her mother's body. She cradled Natalia's head in her arms and suddenly felt the weight of the world drop onto her. She sobbed silently, each breath out making no sound and each breath in barely a whisper.

"I'm sorry," she whispered over and over into Natalia's ear. Dean and Sam stepped back, allowing Adi a few last moments with her mother, and keeping watchful eyes out for anything that might have been following Natalia in her last moments of life.

After another few minutes had passed and Adi had shed all of the tears she had to cry, she stood up shakily. Sam rushed to her side, offering her a hand; her knees gave out and she collapsed on him, the weight she held in her heart practically toppling her over.

Dean examined Natalia's body more thoroughly, searching for any evidence he and Sam could use. He singled in on a strange bite mark on her neck.

"Sam," Dean started, "I don't think _I_ killed her." He pulled out his phone and took photos of the bite mark, showing them to Sam.

"What do you think it is?" Sam asked.

"I can give ya 'bout twelve different things I think it could be," Dean concluded, "and all of 'em are things we don't want to wait around for."

Sam helped Adi lean against the Impala when she had found her strength. She slipped in and out of a right mind, unsure of how to wrap her mind around recent events. She felt as if she was living in a nightmare with no hope of waking up.

"I—if my mom was h—here," Adi stammered, "wh-where's my sister?"

Neither Dean nor Sam knew exactly how to respond without sending Adi back into a fit of sobs.

"That's what we're out to find next." Dean replied.

Adi drew in a deep breath and stared with teary eyes at Dean. "What do we do with her body?"

Dean shook his head and scanned over Natalia.

"Dean," Sam whispered, "she deserves to make the choice."

Dean nodded and replied, "We can bury her, or we can take her with us."

"What, for experimentation or something?" Adi was horrified.

"No, no, of course not," Sam shook his head. "Sometimes…there's a possibility she could…turn into something. Depending on what she was bitten by."

"So she might still be alive in there," Adi questioned, "But she won't be herself anymore."

"Exactly." Sam replied. "In which case, we would have to…"

Dean placed a hand on his brother's arm and nodded in Adi's direction. She was holding her breath again, taking an occasional shallow breath, trying desperately to hold back more tears.

"We won't do anything you don't want us to." Dean assured her.

Adi thought hard, but she knew there wasn't much time. She nodded at Sam and Dean.

"Burn her."

Dean and Sam both carried Natalia's body to the back of the car. Dean sped off to a clearing in the field, where the corn wouldn't catch on fire. The brothers pulled a can of gasoline from the trunk along with the body. Adi watched as they laid her on the dirt and soaked her in the flammable liquid.

"You don't have to watch." Sam whispered.

"I know," Adi nodded. "But I'm not backing out now."

Dean flicked the flame on his pocket lighter, and threw it on the body, stepping back as the flames grew higher by the second. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, and it was all Adi could do to not throw up.

Sam placed a hand on Adi's back as tears cascaded down her cheeks. She showed no emotion, but she felt all of it.

"I'm sorry, Adi," Sam empathized.

Adi nodded and stared out the window as Dean drove away from the scene.

"Yeah. Me too,"

Dean's phone buzzed. Sam picked it up and sighed heavily.

"Guess who."

Dean raised his eyebrows. "Dad?"

Sam nodded. Adi spoke up from the backseat, her voice drenched in fury.

"Let me talk to him."

Sam passed the phone back to Adi, who held it up to her ear but said nothing.

"Dean?" John called from the other end. "I found Natalia, and she's in danger."

Adi fumed. "You obviously didn't do the greatest job saving her, asshat!"

Silence. Then, "Adelaide?"

"Allow me to explain: I just watched my mother burn and I'm not sure who to blame; you, or the thing that bit her."

"I'm sorry—"

"Are you? Or are you sorry you failed a hunt?"

"Where are my sons?"

"They aren't talking to you, _I_ am. And I want answers. What the hell killed my mother?"

John sighed. "I don't know. I'm—"

"I don't want your half-assed apologies," Adi interrupted. "I want your honesty for once. Who was after her and why?"

"Adelaide, I swear to you, I don't know anything. I'm still searching."

"You'd better hurry, because my sister is out there and if I have to burn her too, I'm coming after you next."

"Hey," Dean prompted, motioning for Adi to give him the phone. She hesitantly agreed, thrusting the phone back into Dean's open palm.

"Dad," Dean inquired, "Me and Sammy have some questions too."

"Hit me," John sighed, "I can't possibly get any more beat up."

"For real," Dean assured him, "We want to know what happened back in ghost town. Those explosions weren't made by humans, were they?"

"No," John replied. "Angels did that."

Sam raised an eyebrow at Dean. "Angels?"

"Angels?" Dean echoed into the phone. John affirmed, "They don't mind creating chaos when they're trying to get something done."

"What were they out for?" Dean inquired.

"Well," John started, "I wish I could tell ya. But this one won't talk."

Dean was speechless. He made eye contact with Sam and stared, until he remembered he was driving and had to keep his eyes on the road.

"What you're saying is…you captured an angel?"

Adi and Sam were taken aback. They craned their necks, trying to listen in to John's end of the conversation.

"Yeah," John confirmed. "But he's not talking, no matter what I do to him."

"He's torturing an _angel_ ," Adi mouthed to Sam, who shrugged confusedly.

"Wait," Dean questioned, "You have a _real_ angel with you…and you're torturing it to get it to talk."

"Yeah," John replied, "but nothing's working. This bastard's clammed shut."

Dean scoffed. "You're _so_ going to hell for this, Dad."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take." John replied.

There was a loud scream on John's end of the phone. Dean brought the phone away from his ear, the sudden noise surprising him unpleasantly.

"Dad?" Dean shouted.

"That was him," John replied. "I'll call you back when I get some answers out of this SOB."

"Wait, don't—"

John ended the call before Dean could protest. Dean tossed the phone to Sam.

"Track it," Dean demanded. "We're not waiting for him this time."


	8. Tears of Heaven

Adelaide sat motionless in the backseat. Occasionally, Dean or Sam would catch a glimpse of her from the front seats, but neither of them could come up with anything comforting to say. They knew the pain of losing a mother, but losing both parents was something they could only partly understand.

As Dean pulled into the parking lot of another shabby motel, Sam broke the silence.

"How you holding up?"

After a few long moments, Adi replied in a calm and collected manner.

"If your mom dies, aren't you supposed to feel sad?"

Sam furrowed his eyebrows and glanced over at Dean; equally as taken aback by Adi's apparent tranquility regarding the matter.

Adi explained, "I don't feel sad knowing she's dead. I feel…relieved, almost."

Dean was almost apprehensive. "I get she wasn't textbook perfect, but she _was_ your mom."

"She had hell of a way with guys and beer," Adi scoffed. "Hardly 'mom' material."

"But still," Sam questioned, "you don't miss her at all?"

Adi shook her head. "I'm not sad that she's dead; I'm scared of what that means for my sister."

Sam nodded. "If she's been communicating with angels, she'll be alright."

Dean added, "But we can't count on that. So, we're gonna set up camp here for the night and see what we can't dig up about Natalia Bennett."

Adi's eyes widened. "You're serious?"

"Serious as billionaire in the middle of a poker game."

Sam set up his laptop on the little desk on one side of the room. Adi checked the closet for leg room. Dean dumped the contents of his duffel bag onto one of the beds; guns, ammunition, and a knife spilled out.

"What the hell is all that for?" Adi demanded.

"Different monsters have different recipes for death." Dean described, "Some need bullets, and others need a knife to the gut."

"Damn," Adi breathed. "How old were you when you started this rabbit chase?"

"Which one?" Dean smirked. "A lot of rabbits have come this way, kid."

"When was your first hunt?"

Dean recalled, "I was ten or eleven, when I saw a Shtriga go after my brother."

"A Shit-what-a?"

Dean shrugged, "A witch, basically." He continued, "It wasn't until I was sixteen I went on a 'real' hunt with my dad…I shot and burned a vampire. Ever since then, things just haven't been the same."

Adi was speechless. Dean waited for her to give a response; when he realized she wasn't going to say anything, he looked up from what he was doing and asked her, "You with me?"

She nodded tentatively. "If my parents were – or are – hunters, I guess I ought to take that on myself. Family business, right?"

"You don't have to do _anything_ you don't want to." Dean frowned, "I'm telling you, Adi, once the hunting life gets a hold of you, it doesn't let go. And it's got a mean death grip, literally."

Adi held her own pistol in her hand, which she had retrieved from the car, and nodded at Dean.

"I'm already in for the count," Adi concluded. "No backing out now."

‡‡‡

"You've failed us again."

"I tried to warn her—"

"You gave _everything_ away. You should have come to me before making such a stupid decision."

"I am truly sorry."

Naomi stood up from her chair abruptly, anger surging through her veins.

"I don't want yet another apology from you. I want your obedience; I need to be able to trust you, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth hung her head shamefully. "I've done everything I can."

"No," Naomi argued, "if you had, Natalia would still be alive and Adelaide would be safe."

"I understand," Elizabeth whimpered. "Please, just give me one more chance. I will find Adelaide and get her back under containment."

Naomi stared thoughtfully at Elizabeth, scanning her face, practically reading her thoughts.

"You're afraid," Naomi commented. She couldn't hide her smirk.

Elizabeth maintained her composure. "Fear is not an emotion I am able to comprehend fully."

"But you feel it."

The part of Elizabeth that was human fell to pieces, utterly terrified by her superior. The angel part, however, was stronger. Elizabeth stood her ground, although she wanted to give in.

"No." She determined. "I am afraid of nothing."

Naomi retorted. "Good, then my next task will be no trouble for you."

Elizabeth waited for her orders. Her heart raced and her palms began to sweat, but she remained tranquil. Naomi couldn't know how Elizabeth truly felt. She had seen and heard of far too many angels who had been stripped of their grace because they had failed one too many times.

"You will find your sister, take her back home, and – of course – get rid of those other two."

Elizabeth hesitated. "You mean for me to…send them somewhere else?"

"I think you know exactly what I mean." Naomi replied.

Elizabeth shook her head slowly and unsurely. "It is not in my power to send anyone to hell."

"It is if you are commanded to do so."

"They are Adelaide's brothers. I cannot—"

Naomi interrupted, "I don't care who they are! They're in the way, and you _will_ obliterate them."

Elizabeth had nothing more to say. Her mind was racing but the decision had already been made. This was her last chance; should she fail, the consequences were unimaginable.

"Tell me you'll do it." Naomi demanded. "Either you do it, or I get someone else to take your place."

Elizabeth nodded, "I will."

"Good." Naomi smiled, her lips caked with a fake sweetness that Elizabeth saw right through but was too afraid to challenge.

"How much time do I have left?" Elizabeth muttered.

"Take as much time as you need," Naomi replied. "Don't disappoint me, and everything will be alright."

‡‡‡

Well into the early hours of the morning, Sam and Dean searched for information on Adelaide's mother; meanwhile, Adelaide had fallen asleep on Sam's bed.

"Check this out," Sam motioned to Dean. "Natalia was a real pro in high school."

Dean stared at the images on Sam's laptop screen. Natalia's body was plastered all over the website; lingerie and nude shots were taken. She was advertised as an "affordable choice" who offered "a bangin good time".

"Holy shit," Dean whispered. "I'm all for a bangin good time, but not when the chick's like fifteen!"

Sam nodded remorsefully. "She's got a lot of ratings. Mostly from guys in their forties, and a couple in their fifties."

"I'm gonna throw up," Dean groaned.

Sam clicked around Natalia's profile. She was fourteen when her "career" began, and updated her profile for the last time when she was twenty-three.

"She probably quit when she found out she was pregnant with Adelaide." Sam concluded.

"Looks like she didn't do a lot of work the last few years." Dean commented. "She only has one review, see?"

Sam clicked on the review. Natalia's client rated her poorly; calling her crude names and graphically describing how badly she had performed for him.

"She was around nineteen then." Sam noted. "Maybe she decided to – I dunno – brush up on her hunting skills and give the life of pleasure a rest."

Adi stirred in her sleep. Sam shut the lid of his laptop promptly, as Adi's eyes slowly peered open.

"Find anything?" She groggily inquired.

"Not much," Sam replied. "But I think we're gonna call it a night for now."

"Oh, yeah, sorry." Adi slowly swung her legs over one side of the bed.

"No, it's fine," Sam protested, "you can sleep there. I'll…" Sam scanned the tiny room and shrugged. "I'll find someplace."

"Okay," Adi nodded sleepily. "Goodni—" She yawned mid-sentence and fell back asleep before finishing her thought.

"Real cute, Sammy." Dean teased.

Sam ignored his brother's comment and grabbed his coat.

"Where you going?" Dean questioned.

"Out for a beer," Sam replied. "There's no way I'm getting any sleep here tonight."

Sam opened the door and came face to face with a young woman in mid-knock. Sam was taken aback for a moment, and both of them stood in dumbfounded silence.

"Sam?" Dean came to the door and faced the woman who stood on the stoop outside. "Can we help you?"

The woman nodded nervously. "Are you the Winchester brothers?"

Sam nodded. "What do you—"

"I'm looking for my daughter." The woman was nearly frantic. "My name is Natalia Bennett, and I died tonight."

Sam and Dean stepped outside with Natalia.

"What the hell is this?" Dean demanded.

"It's crazy, I know, but I found someone years ago who told me he could send me to the future, before it happened. I've been trying for years to reach my daughter, but every time I've tried, I'm too late."

"So…" Sam started, "you're Natalia, from the past, before you died?"

"Yes." Natalia nodded. "I can't exactly change my own future, but I'm willing to do everything I can to change my daughter's."

"You've seen the future?" Dean raised an eyebrow.

"I've seen my daughter's future," Natalia replied. "And no matter what I try, no matter what I do, she always ends up dead."

The urgency in Natalia's voice rose. "But you can save her."

"Whoa, whoa," Dean shook his head. "Look, we do what we can to help people, but changing the future is kind of pushing it."

"You won't be changing anything if it hasn't happened yet." Natalia argued.

Dean and Sam exchanged glances. Dean nodded in Natalia's direction and agreed to hear her out.

"I was killed by a demon;" Natalia explained, "The same demon that's been hunting me for years. I spent nearly every day since I was twenty-three hunting that bastard but the day he finished me off was the day all hell broke loose, for everyone."

"Wait," Sam began, "you've been hunting this demon in local bars every day for seventeen years?"

"Eighteen," Natalia corrected him. "And no; the last time I was in a bar was when I was nineteen. And one night about a week ago…I slipped up."

"Your daughter thinks her mom was an alcoholic whore," Dean fumed. "That's a big reason why the two of you never exactly hit it off."

"I couldn't let her get too close to me." Natalia's voice broke. "She will never know how much I loved her, because I had to pretend I didn't care. If that son of a bitch knew just how much she meant to me, he'd go after her."

"So you went and had another kid to make it even harder on her." Sam retorted.

Natalia stared back at Sam, her eyes baring into him as if she could see right through him. "You don't know," she breathed.

"What don't we know?" Dean demanded.

"Elizabeth isn't my daughter," Natalia stated. "I gave birth to her, but…she isn't my child. She isn't even human."

Dean's eyes widened. "What the hell is she, then?"

Natalia lowered her voice to barely a whisper.

"She's an angel. And she's coming to kill you both."


	9. Run, Baby, Run

"I don't have much time."

Natalia followed Sam and Dean into the Impala that sat outside the hotel room. Dean took the driver's seat, Natalia sat in the passenger seat, and Sam slid into the back.

"You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do, so I suggest you talk fast." Dean said.

"Listen, you both _will_ die if you don't follow my instructions exactly," Natalia stressed. "I'm trusting you to save her."

"How do we know you're not full of it?" Dean challenged.

"You don't," Natalia replied. "But go ahead and test me; cut me with silver, throw holy water in my face, whatever you damn well please, but you'll be wasting your time _and_ mine, because nothing will have any kind of effect on me."

Sam and Dean were silent. Natalia continued her story, letting the boys ask her questions as they needed but keeping a sharp eye on the time.

"When Adelaide left, I felt a presence with me. It wasn't Elizabeth's; hers I could recognize. This was different – evil - but not like the demon I had been chased by."

"So you're saying angels and demons are real," Dean interrupted. "You've been living with one and running from another."

"Exactly," Natalia agreed. "When Elizabeth came downstairs, I asked her about the presence. She felt it too, and told me to follow Adelaide. But she had taken the only car I have, so I hot-wired one of my neighbors' cars."

"You followed Adelaide all the way to the police station?" Sam asked.

Natalia shook her head. "We were close, but the presence became so strong Elizabeth couldn't handle it, so she told me where to go and I drove. I drove for hours before we came to a stop in Noblesville, north of Indy. We stayed there for the night; when I woke up, Elizabeth was gone."

"How long had you known Elizabeth was an angel?" Sam asked.

"I'd known since her third birthday." Natalia explained, "She would wake up almost every morning in a new body, it seemed. She didn't age the same way humans did. At first I thought she was just hitting tons of growth spurts, but there's no way a kid could go from a babbling toddler to a walking dictionary overnight."

"And all this time Adelaide didn't suspect a thing." Dean noted.

Natalia shook her head. "I know it doesn't make sense, but I swear I'm not crazy."

"We don't think you are," Sam assured her, "we're just looking for answers, that's all."

Natalia nodded and continued. "Elizabeth said there was some kind of explosion…that all hell was breaking loose, no one could stop it, and…she just went on and on about this mumbo jumbo I didn't understand. She warned me that all the demons were stronger, and the next time I faced my demon, he would probably kill me. Which is exactly what he did."

"You talk about him like he's a person," Dean retorted. Natalia didn't laugh.

"He's a monster; but even monsters have names. He calls himself Crowley, and he will stop at nothing for blood, which is why I don't have much time. If he sees me with you, you're both dead meat."  
Dean and Sam exchanged concerned glances. Dean inquired, "he can follow you even after you've died _and_ traveled through time?"

"Yes," Natalia nodded, "he can do whatever he pleases, and there's nothing he enjoys more than tormenting me. But I think I've held him off long enough, for now."

A strong gust of wind shook the trees outside. Natalia jumped and shot her gaze over one shoulder, anxiously watching out for her antagonist. When she was confident he was nowhere near, she took a deep breath and leaned back in her seat, clutching the medallion that hung from a long chain around her neck.

"I must suck, having no escape." Dean commented.

"Of course it does," Natalia agreed. "But this isn't my little pity party. This is about Adelaide, and you two keeping her alive. And I don't say that simply because I'm her mom; it's because, in the future, if she lives, she saves hundreds of people and changes the course of time."

"Yeah?" Dean inquired, "Well why can't you waltz right in there and explain all this yourself?"

Natalia scoffed. "You know how much she hates me. What makes you think she'd believe a word I say?"

"Because you know things about her that she doesn't." Dean replied. "Yeah, it'll freak her out, but once you clear the air, I'm pretty sure she'll get the memo."

"And seeing the supernatural is a whole different experience from just hearing about it." Sam added.

Natalia shook her head. "I can't. She's not ready."  
"She'll never believe in herself if you don't believe in her first." Dean protested. "She needs to hear it from you."

Natalia was silent. She stared long and hard at Dean before slowly nodding her head.

Adelaide felt a hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently.

"Adi, you awake?"

Adi stirred and rolled over to face her brothers. Standing in front of her was Sam, and behind him emerged a young woman who couldn't be much older than twenty, and closely resembled her mother.

"Mom?" Adi's eyes widened as Natalia nodded; her mouth spread into a nervous smile that Adi did not return.

"Let me explain,"

Adi was speechless. If she wanted to protest, she couldn't find the words.

"I'm a hunter, like these two." Natalia motioned to Sam and Dean. "but in my last stretch of life, I was the one being hunted. There's a demon who's been after me ever since you were born, and I'm afraid he might come after you too if he catches you with me."

"That's why you treated me like shit all these years?" Adi spewed.

Tears welled up in Natalia's eyes. "Yeah. I never wanted to; I love you more than you can ever imagine, but I had to protect you and this was the only way I knew how. If I sent you away, he would find you. If I kept you hidden, I thought I could lead him away long enough."

"But," Adi protested, "you came back home every night. Why wouldn't he follow you there?"

"Underneath the wallpaper," Natalia explained, "I drew symbols that would keep him away. If he came too close, he'd be obliterated. And the windows were made of one-way glass. You could see out, but he couldn't see in."

"My god…"

Natalia stopped Adi from speaking. "I need you to listen to me. I know this is all batshit crazy, and I get that this is a hell of a lot to take in at once, but you've got to trust me. Elizabeth, your sister, isn't human. She's—"

The hotel door swung open. Everyone jumped at the sound, and turned to face a tiny blonde-haired girl in a blood-stained tee shirt and torn jeans. One sleeve of her coat was torn into slivers, and her boots were scuffed up to the point where nearly nothing was left.

"Adi," Elizabeth warned, "don't listen to her."

Adelaide pulled her gun from under her pillow and aimed the barrel at Natalia's chest. Natalia threw her hands up in the air, to show she meant no harm.

"Adelaide," Natalia whispered, "she's an angel."

Sam grabbed Elizabeth by the shoulders and held her against him. Dean closed and latched the door, and walked over to Adi's side.

"Adi, put the gun down."

"Why should I trust you?" Adi demanded of Natalia, ignoring Dean's direction.

"Because I'm your mother." Natalia replied. "Our last talk didn't go so well. I told you about your dad and I said some things about him I shouldn't have."

Adi slipped her thumb over the safety button, disengaging it.

"You went to find him," Natalia continued, "and I searched for you, but these explosions went off, and I couldn't—I couldn't get to you."

"Anyone could tell her that," Elizabeth shouted. "She can't prove a thing, Adi, don't listen to her!"  
Natalia stared straight into Adelaide's eyes and whispered, "No one, not even Elizabeth, knows this one thing: when you were seven, you ran away. I was gone all day and I left you with a stupid teenage girl who wanted money but didn't want to work. She fell asleep, and you came to look for me. You thought I was at the bar, so you searched for me, but when you couldn't find me, you went out the back door and wandered down an alley in the dark."

Adi swallowed hard and choked back her tears.

"There was an old man in that alleyway, and when he saw you crying, he told you he would help you. But he didn't help you; he hurt you more than you had ever been hurt, and left you in a dumpster to die."

Adi lowered the gun and clicked the safety back on.

"I found you there early that morning, because I felt something was wrong. I heard you crying; it was barely a whisper, but it was there. You were alive, and if you hadn't been…I don't know what I would have done."

Natalia cleared her throat as her voice deepened angrily and livid tears fell from her eyes. "I found that old man. For every bruise I found on your body, I cut him into seven little pieces."

"Oh my god," Adi breathed.

"I'm sorry I didn't find you sooner," Natalia sobbed. "I should never have left you. All those years after, I should have stayed by your side. I should have given up hunting and let you have a normal life." Natalia shook with sobs. "You didn't—you didn't deserve the—the hell—I made you go through."

Adi dropped her gun and ran to her mother. She wrapped her arms around her mother's frail, trembling shoulders and hugged her tightly. Natalia's sobs quieted and her trembling stopped.

"What do you need?" Adi whispered.

Natalia laughed. "I need to go back seventeen years and fix everything I did wrong."  
Adi pulled back and held Natalia at arm's length so she could look her directly in the eyes.

"I forgive you," Adi said, "for everything."

Elizabeth's face fell as she wriggled away from Sam's grasp. "I helped you," she started, "and you choose to betray me?"

"You're the reason I died!" Natalia protested. "You're the reason _everyone_ dies."  
"What?" Sam, Dean, and Adi questioned in unison.

"That's why I came," Natalia explained. "You have to get away from her."

"Natalia," Elizabeth warned, "I don't want to hurt you."

Dean went for a knife, and Sam took a hold of Elizabeth again.

"You don't know what she can do!" Natalia became frantic.

Dean came after Elizabeth with a knife and held it against her throat.

"What are you?" Dean demanded.

"I can't tell you." Elizabeth replied calmly.

Dean made a small cut on Elizabeth's forearm, which glowed blue but did not bleed. She winced, but in a short matter of seconds the wound was healed perfectly, as if it had never been there.

Dean stared confusingly into Elizabeth's eyes. "What the hell—"

Elizabeth screamed, her voice came out so high-pitched it was inhuman. The others clutched their ears in pain, and fell to the floor as the windows shattered and the little television crackled. Once the screeching had stopped, everyone recovered to find that Elizabeth was gone and had left no trace of where she was off to.

"Okay, I get she's not human," Dean started, "so what the hell _is_ she?"

Natalia replied, brushing herself off, "She's an angel. And she's not exactly the kind you'll want watching over you."

The four congregated in the Impala as Dean drove a little ways down the road, keeping an eye out for both Elizabeth and Crowley.

"So what," Sam asked, "does Elizabeth kill us both and take Adelaide or what?"

"Or what." Natalia echoed. "She doesn't kill anyone, but she doesn't exactly stop their deaths."  
"Mom," Adelaide started, "you've seen the future, so just tell us what happens."

Natalia sighed heavily and hesitantly told the story of what she had seen time and time again.

"Adelaide follows Sam and Dean to Colorado, where John Winchester agrees to meet them. Only, it's not John; it's John possessed by Elizabeth. She's left her first vessel – the little blonde girl you just saw – and has possessed John's body. Only, she plays him so well, no one can tell the difference until _after_ he's taken Sam and Dean to Crowley, who runs them through before they can say 'holy hell'. By that point, Adelaide is so terrified she can't do anything to defend herself, and Crowley captures her. I can only imagine what he does, because every time I've seen the future play out, that's where he stops it. Then the loop restarts and I have to live it all over again. But I can promise you, he doesn't want you alive, Adelaide."

"So…if you've seen it happen the exact same way so many times, what makes you think this time will be any different?" Adi inquired.

"Because this time," Natalia replied, "I found you before it was too late."

"So what do you need us to do?" Sam asked.

"I need you to run," Natalia replied. "Run and hide, or run and hunt; but whatever you do, don't follow Elizabeth, and don't look for John."


	10. Hey Bobby, It's Us Again

Adelaide and Natalia sat on the bed together while Sam and Dean waited outside.

"What happens next?" Sam whispered. Dean shrugged in reply.

"We can't haul her around forever. If she's got demons on her tail, we're in trouble."  
"So," Dean muttered, "we find out how to deal with 'em."  
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Sam asked.

"How should I know?" Dean scoffed. "I'm your brother, not your psychic."

Sam chuckled. "I think we need to pay Bobby a visit. He'd probably know what to do about the demon, _and_ about Elizabeth."

"We take the kid all the way to South Dakota when we've only known her for three days?"

Sam shrugged. "Got any other ideas?"

"Nah," Dean confessed. "But should we ask her mom first, or…not?"

"How did you die?" Adi inquired. "You had a bite mark on your neck; do demons have weird teeth?"

"It wasn't the demon who killed me." Natalia replied, "Crowley was raising hellhounds. He sent them after me, and they were what took my life. My death was pretty mild, actually."

"Like hell it was!" Adi objected. "You were torn apart and bitten; if that's your idea of 'mild', I don't want to know what a gruesome death looks like."

Natalia smoothed a strand of Adi's hair out of her face. "I hope you never have to see one."

"There's one more thing I don't understand." Adi questioned, "If you can travel back in time, why don't you go back further and change everything? Why stop here?"

"I can't travel as I please." Natalia replied. "I could stop at one point in time, and one only. I chose this because I knew I could find you eventually, and I couldn't stop my own death, so I thought I'd at least try and stop yours."

"What about Sam and Dean's?" Adi pressed. "If we all do what you said, they'll live too."

Natalia nodded. "And hundreds more will live, because of you."  
"Shit, mom," Adi exclaimed, "don't put that on me."

"I'm not trying to put any pressure on you," Natalia protested, "I'm just telling you what I've seen. And hundreds of people are alive in the future, but only if you live to save them."

"What, by being a hunter?"

"Yes. And by stopping the darkness."

Adelaide sat in silence for a long moment. She stared into her mother's big blue eyes and thought of Elizabeth.

"Don't tell me I have to kill anyone. Especially not Elizabeth."

"I can't say," Natalia replied. "I've seen bits and pieces of the future – both futures - but I can't say if Elizabeth is alive in them or not."

"But she's an angel; aren't they immortal?"

"Honestly, all I know about angels is that they are powerful beings, and they can do absolutely anything God commands them to do."

"So, if God commands Elizabeth to kill me, she will."

Natalia shook her head. "That won't happen. God doesn't want people to die, but He will allow it."

"Great," Adi remarked sarcastically. "So my life is in the hands of the big guy upstairs, and no matter what I do the outcome will always be the same."

"No, no, no, you're missing the point." Natalia protested. "You have to understand: God allows for humans to make their own choices; you just have to make sure you choose the right ones."

Adi's mind was more jumbled than ever, but she nodded silently, regardless. Natalia and Adi left the room and joined Sam and Dean outside.

"I've got to get going now." Natalia stated. She gave her daughter one last embrace, and nodded to the brothers.

"Take care of her, okay?" She said, "And remember what I told you."

Dean and Sam nodded. They watched as Natalia walked away, and exchanged glances that spoke many words along the lines of "what the hell did we just witness?"

"Adi," Natalia turned back and smirked at her daughter. "Get some clean clothes, okay?"

Adi laughed and nodded. She watched as Natalia walked away for the last time, until she disappeared around the corner.

"Hey, kid," Dean started, "We've got an old friend in South Dakota who can help us out with the demon issue. You down?"

"Why not?" Adi replied. "We've got plenty of time to kill, and apparently a couple demons."

Sam let Adi ride in the passenger seat first while Dean drove. The travel was over 12 hours, and they agreed to rotate every few hours so Sam could have a period of time with extra leg room. The three stopped for food, and Adi watched out for demons. They went to a retail store where Adi found some extra clothes. They took a few detours, all the while keeping a lookout for Elizabeth, and came to a stop in Nebraska, just a few hours south of Bobby's place.

"This is the last stop, I promise." Dean said. He pulled into the parking lot of an old, somewhat run-down diner that had lost its sign along with a couple layers of paint.

"Phew," Dean exclaimed, "Looked a lot worse last time we were here."  
Once inside, Adelaide found herself watching over her shoulder at all times.

"Need some salt?" Dean playfully punched Adi on the arm and she jumped.

"What?" She asked.

"It's a superstitious kind of thing," Dean replied. "Throw salt over your shoulder, relieve bad juju."

"Not to worry, hun. There ain't no bad juju here."

"Hi, Ellen." Dean smiled.

"Howdy, boys," Ellen walked around the counter to hug Dean and Sam. She noticed Adelaide and smiled warmly. "Who's your friend?"

"This is our…Adelaide." Sam replied.

"She's our dad's secret daughter." Dean elaborated.

Ellen's smile faded slowly, then bounced right back as she went into "mom mode".

"It's real nice to meet you, Adelaide." Ellen offered a hand, which Adi shook. "Are these boys treatin' you nice?"

"More or less," Adi replied jokingly.

Ellen laughed. "I've got a special spot just for y'all." She led them to a table at the other end of the room, where the bright morning sunlight seeped through the window cheerily.

"Only table 'round here that hasn't been tossed around, scratched with a knife, or blown to bits." Ellen retorted. "It's a special one." She knocked on the tabletop and winked at the boys.

"What can I get'cha?" Ellen asked, standing with one hand on her hip and the other reaching for a little pad of paper on the countertop.

"The strongest stuff you've got," Dean replied. Sam nodded in agreement.

"I'm good with water, thanks." Adelaide said.

"So two coffees and a water," Ellen nodded. Sam and Dean sent her confused glances at which she chuckled.

"Sorry, boys; this early in the morning, coffee's the strongest thing you're gonna get."

Adelaide wrung her hands uncomfortably. She sensed that there was something off about the place; Sam noticed, and offered to explain.

"Ellen's a hunter too," He whispered. "She's had her fair share of inhospitable customers."

"Sam? Dean?"

A young blonde woman emerged from the kitchen, beaming excitedly.

"How's it going, Jo?" Dean replied, standing up to hug the girl.

"What brings you back here?" Jo inquired, welcoming Dean's embrace and offering one to Sam.

"We're headed to Bobby's," Dean replied. He motioned to Adi, "We've got a passenger with some demon trouble."

"Demons?" Jo inquired, "Really…that's new."

"Exactly," Sam agreed. "That's why we need Bobby's help."

Jo gave a slow nod. "He definitely knows how to handle some crazy shit."

Ellen returned from the back room with two mugs of coffee and a tall glass of ice water.

"We're out of creamer," Ellen said, "but here's some sugar for 'ya." She dropped a handful of sugar packets on the table and set down the drinks.

"Now," she sighed, "how's about some solid sustenance?"

Sam, Dean, and Adelaide ordered their food and pulled up a fourth chair for Jo.

"So, what's your story, Adi?" Jo inquired.

Adi chortled. "A long one,"  
"Hey," Jo held up her hands in surrender. "You don't want to tell me, that's fine, I get it." She grinned, "but I'm not afraid of monsters, and I'm not gonna cry over you, I promise."  
Adi let a half smile creep up. She gave Jo an abridged version of her long life story; Ellen listened in as she fried eggs and bacon in the kitchen.

"How do you live all your life with an angel as your sister and not suspect a thing?" Jo asked.

"I thought she might be communicating with them," Adi clarified. "I didn't exactly think she was one of them."

"You'll learn soon enough," Ellen shouted from the kitchen. She emerged with three plates of food and set them on the table as she continued, "you've got to expect the weirdest shit; set the stakes high, and hope none of it proves to be true."

Ellen pulled Jo away to clean up, as she wandered to the back room to brew another pot of coffee. Once the three had finished their meal, Ellen and Jo returned to send them off, as a scraggly old man waltzed through the door.

"Gimme one second," Ellen called to him, "I'll be right with 'ya."

She turned to Sam and Dean, and patted them on the shoulders. "You boys take care; give Bobby a hello from us. And you," She turned to Adi and smiled, "look out for these two asshats. Keep 'em out of trouble."

Adi sighed heavily. "I've got my work cut out for me. All they are is trouble."

Ellen winked and chuckled. Jo hugged Sam and Dean, and nodded a goodbye to Adi before walking over to the new customer and taking his order.

"Really, boys," Ellen whispered, "be careful out there. I've heard some nasty things have been goin 'round where you've been."

"Hell breaking loose?" Dean nodded, "Yeah, we know. That's why we're hightailing it to dry ground."

"Won't be dry for long," Ellen muttered. "You need anything, you gimme a call."

Sam nodded and patted Ellen on the back once more before following Dean and Adi out of the building.

The Impala started up with a roar. Dean took a deep breath followed by a satisfied exhale.

"Ready to go, kid?" Dean peered in the rearview mirror at his sister, who nodded in reply.

The three drove off, and in a few short hours they made it to a dirt road.

"Here we are," Dean said. "Don't let the atmosphere creep you out too much." He reassured Adi, "Bobby's a great guy, just a little rough around the edges."

Sam stared inquisitively at Dean. "'a little rough around the edges?'"

"Yeah." Dean gave Sam the same inquisitive look. "What?"

Sam scoffed. "Bobby's the nicest guy we know."

" _And_ the best hunter we know," Dean argued. "He means business, even when he's not on the job."

"It's okay," Adi chimed in. "I've seen my fair share of 'rough around the edges'. I can take it."

Dean pulled into the drive and turned off the car. "There ya go, kid." He smiled, "This is Bobby's place."

A grey-haired man with a torn flannel and a shotgun burst through the front door. He shouted a warning, but immediately recognized Dean's car and lowered the barrel of his gun.

"Sam? Dean?" He questioned, "what are you two idjits doin' here?"

Sam stepped out of the passenger side and opened the back door for Adi, as Dean opened the driver's door and walked up to Bobby.

"Hiya, Bobby." Dean said, "We need your help." Adi stepped out of the car, and Dean motioned to her. " _She_ needs your help."

Bobby stared aghast at the girl who so closely resembled John Winchester. His eyes widened, and it took Dean's coaxing to break him out of his daze. Bobby shook his head and walked back towards the house, motioning for the boys and Adi to follow.

"So," Bobby started, "you're John's daughter…so why has he never said a thing about you?"

"He didn't know I existed." Adi explained, "he left my mom before either of them found out she was pregnant."

"But," Bobby protested, "He had to have known _something_ was up." His eyes darted between Sam and Dean, "Did he act shocked at all?"

"Come to think of it," Sam started, "he acted like he…expected it."

"It's all really messed up," Dean agreed. "First, he says he thought Natalia was dead, then—"

"Then he shows up at my house looking for her." Adi finished.

Bobby hesitated. "Don't take offense to this, but…sounds to me like your dad is giving you a big load of shit."

"That's what we're thinking." Sam affirmed. "And if Natalia's right – if she _has_ seen the future – Dad gets himself possessed by a demon who kills both me and Dean."

"Ah, shit," Bobby shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"But," Dean spoke up, "we've got bigger fish to fry. As far as we know, there's this master demon on our tail – _her_ tail – and we've got to stop it."

"Your dad and I have hunted plenty of demons," Bobby nodded. "I've got just the stuff."

Bobby motioned for them to follow him to another room in the house. After pushing some furniture around, he came to a little cabinet door installed overtop a large hole in the wall. He opened it to reveal a nice collection of vials, knives, silver chains, bullets, and three cans of spray paint. Hiding underneath everything was a dusty old book full of symbols and Latin exorcism chants.

"All you need is right here." Bobby tapped the book with his finger. Adi's fascination grew, and Bobby noticed.

"Let me tell you some stories." He said. The three followed him back into the den once Dean had stuffed all of Bobby's anti-demon tools into his duffel bag.


End file.
